Development of adsorbent for collecting of Scandium ions from stream water by radiation grafting

Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) was grafted onto none-woven polyethylene (PE) fiber by irradiation with electron beam (EB) up to 20 kGy followed by reaction in GMA (5%) + Tween 20 (0.5%) at 80 oC. The degree of grafting (dg) may reach to 200% - 300%. The polyethylene adsorbents were prepared by radiation-induced grafting of GMA and subsequent epoxy ring-opening reaction with amine group containing derivatives such as: diethylenetriamine (DETA); ethylenediamine (EDA); di-(2-picolyl)amine (DIPA); 4-amino-4H-1,2,4-triazole (AT). Among these derivatives, EDA and DETA show good capability for modification of GMA/PE fibers. The conversion can reach to 80% and 60% for EDA and DETA respectively. The density of amino group introduced through the modification may attain up to 4.15 mmol/g and 3.2 mmol/g for EDA and DETA, respectively. GMA/PE fibers modified by EDA have shown a good capacity for adsorption of scandium ion (S3+) from water. The uptake yield may attain to 70% for the solution with 40 ppb of Sc. The de-adsorption of scandium from the adsorbent has been tested using solution of 0.5 M HCl and 1.0 M oxalic acid. The oxalic acid shows preferable for recovery of scandium. (author)